Perishable produce such as broccoli and celery are harvested in the field, packed into shipping boxes, and transported to the market. In the past, many of these products have been harvested and shipped to a central packing house for insertion into cartons. To reduce costs, many of the products are now harvested and packed into shipping cartons in the field and thereafter transported to a packing house for cooling and loading onto vehicles for shipment to the market. One of the more common methods of cooling is the placing of crushed ice or an ice-water mixture over the product for depositing ice on the product to maintain it cool during shipping. It is necessary that the product be cooled to near 32 degrees to prevent a deterioration during shipping.
If the product is to be packed at a central station, it is fairly easy to insert crushed ice or a liquid ice mixture at that time. For instance, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,388, Automatic Liquid Ice System with Daniel Burns as Inventor and issued on Feb. 10, 1981, the filled cartons are transported along a conveyor system and ice is automatically inserted through the open top. However, if the product is packed into the shipping carton in the field, this method requires the reloading of the cartons on the conveyor and the opening of the cartons so that the ice can be inserted. The depositing of ice on the product is advantageous in that the cooling effect remains for several hours in a refrigerated vehicle until the ice melts. Additionally, the presence of water reduces the dehydration rate of the product. In some instances products such as chickens packed in cartons are shipped with ice injected into the cartons in the same manner as with produce.
Various attempts have been made to speed up or automate the process of cooling the product in the cartons. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 2.640,328, Car and Produce Chilling System with David Myers as Inventor and issued on June 2, 1953, the boxes containing produce are loaded into railway vehicles and cold water is pumped into the vehicle to immerse the product for chilling both the produce and the vehicle. Thereafter the water is withdrawn and ice is placed within the vehicle to maintain the lower temperature.
Also, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,465,614, Produce Cooling Process with E. H. Spiegl as Inventor and issued on Mar. 29, 1949 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,602,303, Icing Machine, with H. O. McLain et al. as Inventors and issued on July 8, 1952, various processes for automating the introduction of ice and cooling liquids into the vehicles have been devised. However, in each of these instances various specialized equipment and/or transportation vehicles are necessary. Also, none provide for the bulk cooling of produce in containers for interim storage prior to being loaded into transport vehicles for shipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,891 shows a method and apparatus for preserving perishable material with W. L. Morrison as Inventor and issued on Sept. 1, 1959 does reveal shipping containers for produce with a method for cooling the produce within the shipping containers. However, in this instance a cooling gas is injected such as nitrogen and there is no provision for the insertion of ice which maintains the cooling effect and reduces the dehydration of the product.
A common method of cooling cartons of produce at the present time is to inject the ice-water mixture into each individual carton by use of a hose and nozzle assemble. The assembly appears much like that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,388 referenced before. The nozzle is inserted by hand into the handhold opening of each carton and the ice mixture injected onto the produce. Naturally this is a time-consuming and expensive way of cooling the filled cartons but it does permit the loading of the cartons in the field.
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for icing produce or product in shipping cartons without removal of the cartons from the loading pallets and in an efficient and quick manner which effectively cools the product almost instantaneously and deposits ice in the carton for maintaining the product cold during shipment.